The present invention relates to a telephone set, a communication adaptor, a home appliance control method, and a program recording medium which are capable of remote-controlling a home appliance such as an audio device upon arrival of an incoming call.
There has been known heretofore a situation where a user listening to an audio device fails to notice arrival of an incoming call at a telephone set, since it is difficult to perceive the ringing tone of the telephone set due to the sound being emitted from headphones or speakers. For prevention of such inconvenience, there is provided a system which mutes or temporarily stops the audio device upon arrival of an incoming call at the telephone set.
For example, a system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 9-18797, wherein an audio device such as a radio receiver or the like is informed of arrival of an incoming call at a telephone set by an exclusive radio means. According to this system, the audio device such as a radio receiver is muted in response to the information indicative of the incoming call, and then reproduces a prepared ringing tone to notify the user of the incoming call.
In the system mentioned above, it is necessary to additionally equip the audio device with exclusive hardware for detecting arrival of an incoming call at the telephone set. And a program is also required for controlling the operation at detection of the incoming call. Consequently, it becomes necessary to employ a specific audio device designed with an intention for notice of an incoming call, or to employ a combination with an additional unit.